latelenovela Chapter 217 Barbarian Spy
Chapter 217 Barbarian Spy
In the vast southwest, a group of hurried merchants were moving slowly. They were dressed simply, and their faces were covered with dust, as if telling of the hardships of the long journey. Among them was a middle-aged man with a resolute face and deep eyes. He cupped his hands and said with a bit of helplessness in his tone: "We are just ordinary merchants. We originally wanted to look for business opportunities in the southwest, but we didn't expect that this place is already desolate."
Lin Kunlun, who was wearing a coarse linen shirt but had a different temperament from ordinary villagers, was watching the group of people from afar. He noticed their unusual physiques, tall and strong, like the nomadic people in the north. Lin Kunlun's heart moved, but he remained calm. He walked forward and said with a smile: "Meeting is fate, why don't you take a rest and have some simple food?"
The middle-aged man smiled brightly upon hearing this, and said, "Obedience is worse than respect." The five or six people behind him also sat down, showing no disdain for this simple place in the wilderness. Lin Kunlun keenly noticed that their fingers were covered with thick calluses, which were obviously caused by years of bow and arrow shooting. This made him more convinced that this group of people were not ordinary merchants.
Although Lin Kunlun was alert in his heart, he remained calm on the surface. He cut off a piece of golden roasted leopard meat, handed it to the middle-aged man, and said with a smile: "Please try this leopard meat. Although it doesn't taste like a delicacy, it is a rare delicacy in the wilderness."
The middle-aged man took the barbecue and took a bite, with a hint of appreciation in his eyes. He exclaimed: "It's really delicious. I didn't expect to have such a treat in the wilderness."
As the aroma of the barbecue spread, everyone started talking, sharing their experiences and observations, but Lin Kunlun remained vigilant, always paying attention to their words and actions.
"Since you've eaten my brother's barbecue, I'll pay for the wine." The middle-aged man smiled and took out two cowhide wine bags from the package and handed them to Lin Kunlun. Lin Kunlun took the wine bag and gently pulled the cork. A strong aroma of wine came to his nose. He picked up the wine bag, raised his head and took a big gulp, his face showing an intoxicated look. The wine was as strong as the cold wind in the north, making people shiver.
Lin Kunlun put down the wine bag and asked tentatively: "This wine should be the strong wine from the north?" The middle-aged man laughed and nodded: "Brother, you really know the goods! This wine is the fire knife from the north. It will warm your body after drinking it. I am old and my hands and feet are often cold, so I always keep this wine on hand."
Lin Kunlun was more certain of his guess. He turned to look at Lin Shi, motioning him to continue asking. Lin Shi nodded in understanding and asked, "What are your names? Why do you want to do business in the southwest? Nowadays, most of the prosperous businesses are in the east and south of the Yangtze River."
The middle-aged man smiled bitterly when he heard this. "Brother, you may not know that the prosperous places in Jiangnan and the east are not places where we, the rootless merchants, can survive. They are all dominated by the bigwigs in the court and the royal relatives. Most of the goods we transported over there were forcibly bought by them. We heard that there was a shortage of food here, so we transported some here and just sold them. Now we want to see if we can get some mountain products back. After all, returning empty-handed is not our style."
Lin Kunlun nodded inwardly when he heard this. He knew that although these people looked rough, they were actually very thoughtful and good at reading people's expressions. Although he had doubts in his heart, he remained calm and continued to talk with them.
"I wonder what your name is, little brother! I see you are planning to go to the East?"
"No need to mention your surname Lin! You can call me Lin Ergou! Alas! In this world, let alone doing business, we can't survive even if we farm at home! Our southwest has been suffering from drought for two years! If we don't go out to beg for food, we can't survive! I heard that the Jiangnan area has another good harvest this year! So I want to go there to see if I can find a way to survive! By the way, I still don't know what to call you, big brother!" Lin Kunlun sighed at this time.
"Haha! My name is Zhang San! You can call me Brother Zhang or Zhang San!" said the middle-aged man at this time.
Lin Kunlun knew that this person was using a fake name like himself. He had been observing the actions of these people. He found that when they were eating barbecue, they naturally took out a short knife. And the action was very skillful. They cut the meat off the bones. If they didn't eat meat for a long time or had more opportunities to eat meat, they would not have such skills. This almost showed that they were nomadic people in the north.
Of course, if it was an ordinary citizen of the Dakun Dynasty, he would definitely not know. But Lin Kunlun still had such knowledge. After all, ordinary people who mainly engaged in agricultural planting did not have many opportunities to eat. Not to mention such skilled people who could pick the meat off the bones. On the contrary, the nomadic people in the north attached great importance to their strong warriors. Could those strong people be guaranteed to have enough meat?
It is obvious that these people are ethnic minorities in the north, and they are warriors with relatively high status among the nomadic peoples!
Lin Kunlun looked at the scimitars in their hands again. This kind of scimitar was very short and could be hidden on the body. But the workmanship was obviously very fine. This was not something that ordinary nomads could have.
The nomadic peoples of the grasslands in the north were actually beaten badly by the powerful Dakun Dynasty in the early days of the founding of the country, and they have not recovered yet. Even if they can turn the tide, they will not send people to such a far place in the southwest. These people are obviously here to collect intelligence from the southwest and Dakun. Or they want to contact the uprising troops in the west.
Lin Kunlun felt more and more that this was similar to the situation at the end of the Ming Dynasty. With only tens of thousands of people, it was impossible for the Manchus to conquer the Central Plains. On the one hand, they united the Mongols in the north through marriage and other means! On the other hand, they won over many people within the Ming Dynasty! The most famous of them were the Shanxi merchants! Those who went into the mountains not only sold iron and other things to the Manchus, but also acted as their traitors in the Ming Dynasty! Through doing business, they gathered intelligence all over the country to let the Manchu army know the military defense arrangements of the Ming Dynasty so that they could easily bypass those heavily guarded areas.
Lin Kunlun knew that this so-called Zhang San was probably sent by the barbarians to the southwest to build up his own power. However, with the people he brought with him, he was not sure that he could defeat these barbarians! These people were tall and had rich combat experience.
You know, most people would be surprised to see a dead leopard. But these people were calm from beginning to end, as if they were used to it. This was only possible for these barbarians who grew up in the Northeast, in the white mountains and black waters. They had been with wild animals since childhood, so they were not surprised to see a leopard being killed.
"Brother Zhang is really knowledgeable! Unlike us who grew up in this mountain village! Brother Zhang, I wonder if you have ever been to the Northeast!" Lin Kunlun suddenly asked with a smile. He said this first of all to test them, and of course to show them that he had guessed their identities.
"Northeast? To be honest, I grew up in the Northeast! Those barbarians are not that scary! They can only go around the city walls and can't attack the city at all! In the Northeast, whenever the barbarians come, we will hide in the city! Compared with the Dakun Dynasty, the barbarians are too weak, it's just that they are in the old forest and cannot be wiped out for the time being!" The middle-aged man became excited when he mentioned the Northeast!
"Haha! I see! In that case, those ordinary people are nothing to worry about?"
Zhang San was stunned, then he laughed: "Of course! Those nomadic tribes in the north! Which one? They were beaten back by the Dakun Dynasty! Those barbarians are only tens of thousands of people, what can they do!"
"It would be great if it's true! I'm just afraid that one day these barbarians will break into the heartland of Dakun! The people will suffer!" Lin Kunlun said with a smile.
"Don't worry about that! The hundreds of thousands of Northeastern Army in our Dakun Dynasty are no pushovers! Ever since the Northeastern Army was reorganized by Marshal Yuan Chong, the entire Northeastern Army's military defense has been adjusted! The city walls and fortifications are built very high! Those barbarians will never be able to break in!" The middle-aged man who called himself Zhang San said with a smile.